An expensive habit

I thought I would do a lighter post for a change, plus I am still pretty wiped out after contracting shingles. The rash is almost gone now but the virus launched a full-out assault on my body.

For quite a few years I have been collecting Emma Bridgewater Pottery. I blame my mum as until she told me about it, I had never heard of it. My collection started off with just the one mug and has exploded since then. Initially I collected mugs, most of the time I used them rather than keeping them on display. In December I accidentally clicked on an Emma Bridgewater group on Facebook whilst looking for something else. I call it fat finger syndrome. Unfortunately it has been an expensive but enjoyable mistake. I have also managed to get hubby into it, which is great as now he takes great pride in our collection and cleans it on a regular basis. Our lounge has never been so tidy.

It started off after Christmas when we had some money as presents. We decided this year we would buy ourselves something nice after all the shit we had both been through during 2016.

The great thing about the jug is that now hubby buys flowers for me or it every two weeks as it looks so beautiful with a bouquet in it. I have never has so many bunches of flowers bought for me since it arrived. We first discovered the wallflower pattern when we got a personalised mug for our friend (and adopted daughter – that’s a running joke as she could be our daughter due to our age. Quite handy too as her mum and dad did the hard work bringing her up. She calls Jay Dad and me Mum which can be confusing for people who don’t know us.) I actually wasn’t 100% sold on the design but when Imogen opened it, it was so pretty we fell in love with it.

When Imogen’s mug arrived we were also sent a catalogue, I had been eyeing up the Christmas Nativity Plates and the matching mugs but couldn’t justify the price. In the sale the price was greatly reduced and as I bought seconds rather than firsts it was cheaper again (seconds have minor flaws).

I posted this photo of the mugs on Instagram and Emma Bridgewater got in contact with me asking if they could use the photo on their social media. I was chuffed to bits as I studied photography for about six months at University. It was an optional part of the media studies part of my degree and I really enjoyed it.

The plates I also loved but again couldn’t justify the price before the sale. I picked up a real bargain.

After seeing the plates / mugs / jugs hubby was well and truly captivated. He was now also looking at the sale site and earmarked a few items he liked. As we would be celebrating 20 years of being a couple on February 14th 2017, he wanted to mark the occasion. He decided this would be a fantastic way to celebrate

For some reason Jay and I both love having personalised mugs. In the days after our friend passed away we were lost. To cheer us both up I bought us a personalised cocoa mug each as we both like drinking humongous cups of tea. The cocoa mugs hold about ¾ of a pint, which is brilliant and it reduces how many cups I need to make.

My cocoa mug is in a design called Sampler and is in dark pinks and reds

I got Jays in a pattern called Polka Hearts. He was chuffed to bits when his arrived

We don’t collect specific patterns but whatever takes our fancy, its more of a magpie approach but we love it. It is something that we both can share and enjoy together